Kanen Isaac Harper, 24, of Moody, is charged with murder in the Dec. 20 shooting death of 32-year-old Christian White, a father of two from Clay.
A Jefferson County judge granted bond for a man who is claiming self-defense in the killing of another man outside an Alabama karaoke bar.Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney DeMario Thornton contended Harper is responsible for White’s death, saying he introduced deadly force into a fist fight.
Harper’s attorney, Truman Fitzgerald, said the victim punched the suspect so hard that it knocked the glasses off his face and was about to hit him again when his client fired the fatal shots. Harper appeared before Jefferson County District Attorney Tanita Cain Monday for an Aniah’s Law hearing.The shooting happened at 1:05 a.m. that Saturday in a grassy area between Velma’s Trussville on Gadsden Highway and another business. The shooting happened while Velma’s was hosting an “ugly Christmas sweater karaoke party.” White was dead on the scene. Harper called 911 to report the shooting and stayed until police arrived. Trussville police Det. Michael Pressly testified at the bond hearing, chronicling the events leading up to the deadly shooting and the subsequent investigation. Pressly said he interviewed Harper, Harper’s ex-girlfriend Madeline Shrader with whom he was with at the bar, and multiple witnesses who were in the parking lot when the shooting happened. The detective said Harper told him that he and Shrader began the evening together and went in Shrader’s car to Velma’s. “She had an issue with her current relationship and so she was spending time with Mr. Harper that evening,” Pressly testified.Once there, the detective said, an argument happened between Shrader and one of her female friends – Kaliyah Bivines. The friend was upset that Shrader was with Harper because of a past alleged domestic incident between Shrader and Harper. Pressly said once the argument between the two women started, they went outside of Velma’s into the parking lot where the dispute continued. “Mr. Harper then joined, trying to de-escalate the situation,” Pressly said Harper told him. “He stated he went outside to try to calm everyone down.” White, who was a friend of Bivines and who also knew Shrader, then approached the argument. “He began to partake in the argument,” the detective said, “and started speaking towards Mr. Harper and that became a verbal argument.” “Ultimately, Mr. White struck Mr. Harper in the mouth,” Pressly said multiple witnesses told him. “Multiple people stated they saw him swing and hit Mr. Harper in the face.” The detective said White had a folded knife in his pocket but did not present the weapon at any time during the argument. Pressly said the ordeal was captured on surveillance video. It shows both White and Harper falling to the ground. “At that point in time, Mr. Harper stated that’s when he drew his firearm and hip fired,” he said. “And then getting back up, you can see in the video what looks to be …an extension of an arm with a firearm but you cannot see the muzzle shots.”After the shooting, Harper called 911 and spoke with a dispatcher who told him to put his gun in his vehicle. The patrons of Velma’s who heard the shots attempted to help White until paramedics arrived and he was pronounced dead. Under cross examination, Fitzgerald questioned the detective about the previous domestic violence allegations made by Shrader against Harper. Court records show Shrader sought a protection from abuse order after the deadly shooting, saying Harper had threatened her after their breakup. “He is crazy,” Shrader wrote, “and just murdered someone in front of me.” “Did Madeline ever tell you that since those incidents, she and Kanen made up?” Fitzgerald asked the detective.After the hearing, Fitzgerald said Shrader’s father approached him before court Monday and said they were given false information about what happened previously between Shrader and Harper and that’s what pushed the family to push Shrader to seek a protection from abuse order. “They were sorry and they did not want that to affect Kanen Harper because he really is a good guy,” Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald asked the detective if witnesses had told him that White called Harper a “expletive” and also used a racial slur toward him.Fitzgerald also asked the detective if anyone told him that White repeatedly told Harper he was going to “beat his ass.”“Mr. Harper told me that,” the detective said, adding that Harper said he told White to leave him alone. During the argument, testimony showed, another man brandished a pocketknife that was later found on the scene near White’s body. “That person was attempting to de-escalate the situation,” Pressly said. “Would it be reasonable for a person to be in fear for life if someone points a knife at them?” Fitzgerald asked the detective.Fitzgerald called one of Harper’s co-workers as a character witness who described Harper as upbeat, positive and calming. “He’s not what I would call violent or dangerous,” she said. In closing arguments, Fitzgerald said Harper should be given bond because there was no evidence that he wouldn’t appear for future court proceedings and there was no evidence he was a danger to the community or himself. “Kanen Harper, after this horrific incident, chose to stay on the scene. He was the 911 caller,” Fitzgerald said. “He did everything the dispatcher told him to.”“This is a self-defense case. The majority of times in self-defense cases, there’s only one way to vindicate your name and that is to show up in court and either have a judge clear you or a jury clear you,” Fitzgerald said. “He has extra motivation to appear for court.” Fitzgerald said it’s undisputed that White punched Harper, and that Harper did nothing to White to warrant him punching him other than “Christian White choosing violence.”“A punch does not beget deadly force,” Thornton said.Fitzgerald spoke to the media following the hearing. “What Kanen and I would like to say is first and foremost, this is an incident that involves a 32-year-old father of two and the human component of this, you can’t be numb to that, that someone lost their life,” Fitzgerald. From a legal standpoint, however, Fitzgerald said the facts presented during the hearing validate the defense’s self-defense stance. “There’s evidence Christian White punched Kanen Harper. There’s evidence that prior to Christian White punching Kanen Harper, a third person, a man, pointed a knife at Kanen,” he said. “Kanen Harper hates the entire incident. He hates it,” Fitzgerald said. “However, we’re going to fight to prove on the morning of Dec. 20, he acted in self-defense and he did everything that he could have done to protect and preserve his life.”Carol Robinson is a senior reporter for AL.com, covering crime, public safety and breaking news in more than 30 Alabama counties. She began her journalism career at The Birmingham News in 1986, and has covered...
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